Mick stared at her, the determination in her eyes and the passion in her voice moved him deeply. He felt guilty for feeling so wishy-washy and doubtful earlier in the day. If Cindy believed they could make it, then so did he. As she snuggled back against him, he sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the wonderful woman God had given him.
“You’re absolutely right. I think that’s what I needed to hear.” As he hugged her to him, she leaned her head back to look up at him.
“I know, I have Mick ESP, remember,” she said with a serious look on her face before winking at him and laughing out loud. Mick gave her a goofy grin as she continued, “I’ve seen you moping around the last few days looking all lost and confused. We just need to keep our focus on what needs to be done and not on what might happen.”
They were still looking at each other and grinning like fools when Mick felt a vibration. “What is that?” he said as he sat up straighter, a puzzled look on his face. “Did you feel that?”
Cindy looked around. “No, what did you...”
Mick didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying. There was a blinding flash of light about a mile to the north, followed by more vibrations and a loud WHUMP sound. They both jumped up and clutched each other, staring dumbfounded at the flames shooting up into the sky. They heard Jeff and Parker on the balcony below shouting something unintelligible. Mick willed himself to move, he needed to get Dave, but it was almost impossible to tear his gaze away. A second, louder blast jerked him out of his stupor and he began to run toward the stairs, pulling Cindy along as the sky behind him became bright as day.
Chapter 8
Everyone stood quietly in the lobby, listening for any unusual noises. As Charlie looked around, he could tell the building had once been a large family home. The outside was red brick with white trim and a wraparound porch. What Gordon called the lobby was on the small side, green striped wallpaper covered the walls and the floor was covered in charcoal grey carpet. As he looked closer at the carpeting, he notice what appeared to be blood spots and a few small smears, although it was hard to tell for certain since the carpet was so dark. Branching off from the lobby, there was a long hallway with three doors on the left and two on the right.
“Gordon,” he whispered as he walked toward the older man. “How many apartments are in here?”
Gordon thought for a moment and replied in a low voice, “As you can see, there’s five down here and if I remember right, six upstairs.”
From the outside, the place didn’t look large enough to have so many apartments, but looks can be deceiving, Charlie thought as he continued to survey the building. There were only two apartments on the left because a wide stairway leading upstairs was situated in front of them, just off the entry. Dexter waving a hand in the air caught his attention.
When Dexter was satisfied everyone was looking his way, he held up his flashlight. “Make sure you have one of these, I know it’s not that dark, but I wouldn’t want to open a closet door and not be able to see what’s in it.” As the group began fumbling around for their flashlights, he continued. “Make sure your weapons are ready, with safeties off. We already did a check and everyone should have a loaded gun and ammo to spare. Remember to be thorough; we don’t want any surprises later. After each apartment is cleared, make sure all the windows and doors are locked behind you. Later we’ll have to go back into the apartments on this floor to board up the windows, if anyone knows where we can get some steel shutters, those would be ideal,” Dexter said, recalling from experience how boarding up windows with flimsy plywood didn’t work so well.
Dexter met Charlie’s eyes and gave him a slight nod and Charlie nodded back. “Let’s get this over with, it’s not getting any earlier and we need to get a lot done before we can move your families and friends in here.”
Charlie and his group quickly ascended the stairs. He noted that although most of the doors were closed, two in the middle of the hall were wide open. “Let’s take those two first,” he whispered, jerking his head in that direction. “Four of you, come with me...the rest of you take the other room.”
Once they were ready, they silently crept forward with weapons drawn. Charlie’s group reached their open door first and he paused to wave the other group on. They scurried past the door, looking inside as they went by, the last man turned toward Charlie and gave him a thumb up. Charlie nodded at him and peeked around the doorjamb. To his relief the room, although thoroughly trashed, looked empty. He could see a living area with a kitchenette in the rear. There were two open doors on the right and one closed door on the left. Despite the mess, the room had a bright, airy feel to it and the furniture, although knocked over and tossed around, didn’t look cheap.
Despite his trepidation, the apartment was empty. As they went from one apartment to the other, he could see the others begin to visibly relax and he called them all out into the hallway.
“I know it looks like the floor is clear, but stay on your guard,” he cautioned. “Trust me, it only takes a second for one of those things to be on you, so please, don’t get too relaxed.”
As he stood there looking at the men and women before him, the enormity of what he was doing suddenly struck him. What the hell was he doing? What seemed like ages ago he’d been in the Army, so he knew about weapons and how to defend himself, but for the last fifteen years he’d just been a truck driver. His heart raced, he felt overwhelmed and out of his league. As they continued to look at him, he realized he had to get it together. “Ok, let’s keep going,” he said with a weak grin. “That’s all I wanted to say, I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
He turned away, moving cautiously toward the last door and glanced over to watch the other half of his group getting ready to enter the apartment directly across. He grabbed the door handle and tried to turn it. Wouldn’t ya know it, Charlie thought in frustration. Oh course the last door had to be locked. He watched the group across the hall enter their apartment single file as he thought about what to do. Making noise at this juncture could endanger their lives if something was inside.
Still staring at the door he asked in a whisper loud enough for his group to hear, “Can anyone pick a lock?”
“I can,” someone whispered back.
Charlie motioned for them to come forward and his eyes widened with surprise as Travis stepped before him. Travis’ face reddened under Charlie’s scrutiny, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s not what you think, honest,” Travis spoke rapidly, but still in a whisper. “I’ve always wanted to be a cop and I heard it’s a good skill to have. I practice all the time, so I bet I can do it.”
Charlie eyed him for a moment before stepping back to give him room. “It’s all yours,” he said with a sweeping motion of his hand toward the door.
Charlie raised his eyebrows but kept quiet as Travis withdrew a small lock pick set from his jacket. He went to work and in less than a minute, they heard the lock click. Glad he wants to be a good guy, Charlie thought as he smiled at Travis. The teen blushed again and moved away from the door.
Charlie grasped the door knob, slowly turned it, and swung the door open. He stuck his head inside the room to take a look, then slowly backed up and turned around. “We’ve got one,” he said softly.
****
Dexter was nervous, although he didn’t show it. They’d searched the entire first floor and it was clear. Now it was time for the basement and he had bad vibes. Gordon had pointed out the door, it was built into the staircase and they were getting ready to go down.
“I’m gonna throw the flash-bang first, so everybody stay back,” he cautioned. He opened the door and shined his flashlight into the dark recess beyond. “When I go, everybody follow and go down single file just as fast as you can.”
Dave had given them five of the devices and at first Dexter didn’t think they’d ever use them, but he was glad to have them now. He leaned forward, pulled the pin and heaved it over the stairs in one smooth motion, then slammed th
e door shut. They all jumped at the sound of the explosion, even Dexter hadn’t expected it to be so loud and he could see the flash under the door.
“Let’s go!” he yelled as he jerked the door open, the beam of his flashlight bobbing and weaving on the stairs as he raced downward. Once down, other beams joined his as they rapidly swept around the room.
“Did the flash-bang do this?” someone asked, the shock evident in their voice.
Dexter shook his head slowly in disbelief. The basement looked like a slaughter house. The walls and floors were stained with blood; what looked like body parts littered the floor. Smoke from the flash bang had temporarily covered the smell, but now they were being hit full force with the horrific smell of congealed blood and rotting flesh. The sound of someone retching, then retreating up the stairs barely registered. Dexter felt as though his brain had shut down, he was unable to wrap his mind around the scene before him.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Dexter said slowly, waving his flashlight in the air and backing up as he spoke.
****
Charlie took a deep breath to steady his nerves and stepped into the doorway. The zombie was a woman and long, dark stringy hair obscured her face, which suited Charlie just fine. She was sitting in a chair facing the doorway, her head was hanging down and it looked like she was eating something. Charlie didn’t want to get any closer, didn’t want to see what was in her hands. He felt a nudge from behind and reluctantly took a step forward. Someone gasped, and the thing jerked its head up and hissed at them. Charlie expected the eyes to be filmed over, he was shocked to see that they weren’t dead eyes at all, strange eyes yes, but not dead. Her eyes were completely black; they flashed with an awareness that raised the hair on the back of his neck.
The moment Charlie took another step forward, rifle poised to shoot; he was startled by a loud explosion from below. He looked back for a second, which was the wrong thing to do. In an instant, the woman-zombie creature flew out of the chair and rushed him. She slammed both hands into his chest, sending him flying into someone behind him and they both went down with her on top.
Charlie held his rifle up, effectively keeping the keening and snarling woman from biting his face. He could hear her teeth snapping together almost rhythmically as she tried to get at him. Her breath was beyond putrid and her teeth were covered with bits of stringy red flesh. All around him pandemonium broke out. Everyone was shouting and Charlie desperately wished someone would pull her off of him and whomever he was laying on. Whoever it was, they were struggling beneath him, he could hear them gasping.
“Get her off!” he yelled as he finally found his voice. “NOW!”
Immediately, he saw several pairs of hands grab the woman and jerk her away. Charlie rolled to his side; it was Darrell he’d fallen over. He jumped to his feet and held out a hand to Darrell who grabbed it and as Charlie pulled him up, several shots rang out.
The woman-zombie lay sprawled on the ground. The rest of Charlie’s group burst into the hallway from the apartment they had been searching. They all stood there in shocked silence for a moment, staring at her body.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie saw Gordon stagger and lean against the wall. “Gordon, you ok?” he asked shakily.
Gordon was holding a hand up to his cheek and slowly lowered it, staring at the blood on his fingers. “I think so,” he said in a weak voice. “She scratched me is all.”
Charlie grimaced when he saw two long and nasty scratches running down from Gordon’s temple to the corner of his mouth. He remembered that Dave had told them you could only become infected from direct contact with body fluids, so although the scratches were nasty, Charlie figured Gordon should be all right.
“As soon as we get back to the shelter, have Doctor Weaver clean that,” he advised. “You don’t want it to become infected.”
One of the men Charlie didn’t know handed Gordon a handkerchief, which he now held to his bleeding face. “Will do. I don’t think it’s too bad, just stings a bit,” Gordon said with a small grin which caused him to wince in pain.
Charlie took a deep breath and looked at his group. “We’re almost done, let’s get this last apartment checked and get back downstairs. We’ve got people to move over here before it gets dark.”
As they began to enter the apartment again, what sounded like a herd of elephants came pounding up the stairs. After what they’d just experienced, everyone raised their weapons and Dexter, his entire group right behind him, came into view.
“Whoa there!” Dexter yelled, raising his hands in the air. “What’s going on up here?”
Charlie’s group immediately lowered their weapons and all began talking at once. Dexter caught sight of the body on the ground and gave Charlie a questioning glance.
“We’re ok,” Charlie tried to assure Dexter. “We just got surprised.” His eyes narrowed. “What was that explosion we heard downstairs?”
“Oh that, I used a flash-bang before we went traipsing into the basement,” Dexter said with a shrug.
“You might have warned us before you did that,” Charlie admonished.
“Sorry about that, you’re right,” Dexter admitted rather sheepishly to Charlie’s surprise. “My bad. So, is everyone all right?”
Charlie inclined his head in Gordon’s direction. “Gordon got scratched, but he should be ok.”
Dexter frowned, and then stepped over to clap Gordon on the back. “Man, so sorry about that, I’m glad she didn’t bite you or you’d be toast.”
Gordon merely nodded, his eyes on the ground as he continued to hold the handkerchief up to his cheek.
“Dexter, we’re getting ready to check this last apartment,” Darrell said from behind Charlie as he motioned toward the open door. “Charlie was saying we need to finish this up and get going.”
“Tell ya what,” Dexter said as he puffed out his chest. “We’ll do that, why don’t you all head back so Gordon can get that cheek looked at and we’ll meet you back there as soon as we’re done.”
Charlie studied on that for a moment before nodding his head. “We can do that, but shouldn’t we keep some people here? We need to board up the lower windows and get the doors fixed some way.”
After a quick discussion, Charlie headed downstairs with Gordon, Darrell, Travis and his mother, Judith. The rest would stay behind to finish securing the building. Once they were finished, they’d come for everyone.
Charlie didn’t want to admit it, but he was glad Dexter stayed behind. He’d almost gotten someone killed and Charlie wouldn’t soon forget it.
Chapter 9
Mick almost reached the door leading downstairs, when he felt a blast of warm air hit him. He dropped to the ground, jerking Cindy down with him. Although the explosions were going off about a mile away, Mick didn’t know how far shrapnel could travel and he wasn’t taking any chances. They lay on the ground for several seconds; Mick put his arm protectively over Cindy’s head as another, even louder explosion shook the building. He could hear a roaring/whooshing sound and thought he could almost feel the heat coming off the conflagration behind them.
As Mick lay there, he felt a hand grab his. He jerked his head up to see Dave crouched down in the doorway. He was yelling something, but Mick couldn’t hear him. Dave pulled on his hand and yelled again, “Mick! Crawl toward me!”
This time, Mick heard him faintly and looked down at Cindy, tapping her with his hand that had been covering her head. As she looked up, Mick could see tears streaming down her face. He jerked his head twice toward Dave’s direction and Cindy slowly raised her head high enough that she saw Dave. She looked back at Mick and nodded. Mick began to slowly crawl forward; he put his arm around her waist to help her as she moved up beside him and together they inched their way through the door.
As soon as they were through, Mick turned around and closed the door, then leaned against it and drew Cindy to his chest. She was shaking and sobbing quietly, and as he stroked her hair, he looked up at
Dave gratefully.
Dave bent down and touched Cindy on the arm. “Let’s get downstairs,” he said gently. At Cindy’s nod, he helped her to her feet.
Mick surprised himself by getting up on his own. Dave handed Cindy back to him, and with his arm around her shoulders, they slowly followed Dave down the stairs. Dave walked sideways so they could see the stairs by the beam of his flashlight. He kept glancing up at them, concern etching his face as he led them through the door and into the living area. Mick squinted against the bright light in the room, it looked like everyone was up and milling around.
“Mom! Dad!” Brooke squealed as she ran over and tried to hug both of them. “I was sooo scared! I couldn’t find you guys and I didn’t know what was happening,” she said in a rush.
Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place Page 7